Amarillo

The town was first called Oneida. J. T. Berry platted it in April 1887 on school land beside a playa along the railroad right-of-way, and by majority consent it took the name of the lake and creek, which New Mexican traders and pastores had called Amarillo, yellow, probably for the yellow soil of the creek banks or the spring wildflowers. Most of the first houses were painted yellow to match. Charles F. Rudolph of the Tascosa Pioneer blamed railroad men for the English pronunciation and wrote in 1888, "Never again will it be Ah-mah-ree-yoh."

What the plaque says

Amarillo County seat, Potter County; founded in 1887. Incorporated 1892. Named for Arroyo Amarillo, Spanish name of nearby creek. Transportation, financial, cultural, and medical center. Gateway to: Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument, Lake Meredith, Palo Duro State Park, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Boys Ranch. (1965).

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument — 1.0 mi
  Four sealed time capsules raised in Amarillo in 1968 for helium's centennial, in the city that for years produced almost all the world's commercial helium from the Cliffside field.
• Cadillac Ranch — 3.4 mi
  Ten Cadillacs from 1949 to 1963 planted nose down in a pasture west of Amarillo by the Ant Farm collective in 1974, on private land where visitors are let in to paint them.
• Route 66 Sixth Street Historic District — 3.7 mi
  Thirteen blocks of Amarillo's streetcar suburb that Route 66 turned into a roadside strip, from the 1922 Nat to Texaco, Phillips and Dutch Mill stations, now shops and bars.
• Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum — 15 mi
  The Panhandle's great collection, some two million objects behind a 1933 Art Deco hall carved with cattle brands, closed to the public since March 2025 over fire-safety violations.

More markers nearby

• Helium Time Columns Monument and Museum — 1.0 mi
• Amarillo Natatorium ("The Nat") — 3.7 mi
• Route 66 in Amarillo — 3.7 mi
• St. Mary's Academy — 4.5 mi